In Reply To: "To pay his legal bills and the punitive judgements against him for breaches of contract with the other studios he has committed to make films for?"

If you are right, then what really happened was Del Toro told MGM (or whoever), "Look, if I direct the Hobbit, you will have to pay untold dollars to absolve my obligations to other studios" and they said "No way." And he said, "Well then I guess I'm out."

This puts it in a whole different light, makes a lot of sense, and fits with the press releases, where they mention his obligations to other projects.

Seems like PJ might find himself in the same boat, though, if he too has obligations to other studios' projects. Guess they really do need a new director, and one who is not booked. This could be interesting.